QuoteReplyTopic: WhatCar? of the year 2014 Posted: 13 Jan 2014 at 2:24pm

•All-new Qashqai wins Car of the Year and Small SUV category•Judges praise new Qashqai's design, refinement and value for money•High equipment levels and low emissions also highlighted by judges•New X-Trail scoops Reader Award

The all-new Qashqai, the car that redefines the crossover sector, has been honoured with one of the motoring industry's highest accolades - the What Car? Car of the Year Award for 2014.

Like its multi-award-winning predecessor, the all-new Qashqai has been designed, engineered and will be built in the UK. It saw off strong competition to win both the Small SUV (£16,000 - £22,000) category, and the overall 2014 What Car? Car of the Year title.

The What Car? judging panel selected the Qashqai 1.5 dCi Acenta 2WD as its favourite model in the new range, praising its refinement, agile driving experience and low running costs. The panel also highlighted the new Qashqai's comfort, refinement and space, along with its clean engine range and sub-100g/km CO2 emissions.

What Car? Editor-in-Chief, Chas Hallett added: "The new Qashqai brings excellence and polish to a class of cars that was already brimming with talent and tempting buys. It has an interior worthy of its stylish looks, and it makes a fine family car. It's fantastic value for money and a very worthy Car of the Year.'

Jim Wright, Nissan Motor GB Managing Director, commented: "We're thrilled that What Car? has named the new Qashqai as its 2014 Car of the Year. A huge amount of effort has gone into the design and engineering of the new car, and we're all extremely excited about creating the template for the second-generation crossover.

"As the What Car judges discovered for themselves, the new Qashqai is an unbeatable package with high equipment levels, great refinement and comfort and incredible attention to detail."

The new Qashqai goes on sale on at the end of January with prices starting from £17,595. Building on the strengths of the ground-breaking original, the new model features a sector-best suite of technologies that bring maximum convenience, comfort and driver engagement to the crossover segment.

In a further cause for celebration, the new Nissan X-Trail scooped the What Car? Reader Award. It was voted the most-anticipated new car of 2014 by visitors to http://www.whatcar.com/ ahead of models such as the Jaguar F-Type Coupe and Porsche Macan. The new X-Trail goes on sale in the UK in July 2014.

This success comes as Nissan's Sunderland Plant celebrates its latest industry benchmark after making more than one million cars in two years.

The 2013 annual volume of 501,756 vehicles follows the 510,572 production in 2012 and means that, in total, 7,463,187 Nissan vehicles have been manufactured in Sunderland since 1986.

More than 286,000 of the cars built in Sunderland in 2013 were Qashqais, now in its eighth year of production and still the best-selling crossover in Europe. Total Qashqai production in the UK now stands at 1,752,232.

The new model is one inch lower in height, and fuel tank capacity is down fron 65 to 55 litres.There is also a query as to whether it is possible to store a spare wheel of any kind in the redesigned boot.The dealer did not think it was. If this is the case, then I will not be taking delivery of the car, and will get my deposit back.

Boot size can't possibly be any smaller than in the current regular QQ. Can it? I was hoping it was somewhere between the regular and +2 sizes. Any smaller and it's just not practical by any stretch, never mind people like me with a 4 month old plus accessories.

Thankyou Frankie, all I have to do is find out how much the spare wheel outfit costs.My local dealer thinks the existing spare complete with foam bits, will not fit in the new one, or I could have swopped mine for the crappy repair set, which ought to be cheaper.

With the petrol engine, the consumptiotn has been reduced by 10% against the 1.6, from 45 to 50 mpg and the tank capacity is down by about 15%, from 65 to 55 litres,Ipresume to reduce kerb weight to help the mpg figures, so it means shorter intervals between top ups.Good thinking Nissan. The car is going to have to be exceptional on the test drive, or I will be getting my deposit back.

To be honest, I have had my 2014 1.5dci Tekna since May 2014, and like other members, we experienced the frustrating issue with the connect system freezing, loosing sat nav, radio channels etc.

Now, i am not intending to tigger the Nissan brand off in any way, neither the beloved QQ, however whilst i own my own QQ, i have also had a choice through work, to pick a vehicle i would like to hire for 7 months.

So lo and behold i have had another 3 QQ's used for work / busness mileage.

I had a 1.2 xtronic, which i found to be excellent, if not a little thirsty for 600 motorway miles a week - so i swapped it this week for 1.6dci acenta prem .

Now i am talking a 2015, 15 plate with 320 miles on the clock, imagine my dismay to discover, coming back on the M1, the same connect issues, many of us have endured in the past.

Frozen screen, total system re=start is unacceptable nearly 16 months from the start of production.

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